For the FathersMinistry

There is a myth abroad that suggests that too much knowledge of the Bible is not good because it tends to cool the heart and stunt devotion. Christians who think this way encourage a simple saving faith in Christ but caution against too much learning lest it spoil your faith. And they have a point, if their concern is about imbibing the destructive biblical criticism of liberal theologians or speculative, academic, ivory-tower theology. But sadly, all too often what they discourage is the rigorous study of the Scriptures, which then delimits their knowledge of God.

Author and publisher Frank Sheed describes the folly of such thinking, saying:

A virtuous man may be ignorant, but ignorance is not a virtue. It would be a strange God Who could be loved better by being known less. Love of God is not the same thing as knowledge of God; love of God is immeasurably more important than knowledge of God; but if a man loves God knowing a little about Him, he should love God more from knowing more about Him: for every new thing known about God is a new reason for loving Him.

Therefore our study of the Bible, which is our primary and infallible source of knowledge about God, is everything to our spiritual health.[1]